


Singing in the Snow (We Found Love in a Frozen Place)

by BackattheBein



Category: Sanders Sides, Sanders Sides (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Established logicality, Falling In Love, M/M, Pure Unadulterated Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 14:37:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12913980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BackattheBein/pseuds/BackattheBein
Summary: It's the holiday season! Roman Sanders is blue, and not just because it's cold outside. While working the donation kettle one day, he spots a rather attractive cashier guy about his age...Virgil Williams has a pretty boring job as grocery store cashier, that is, until one day he spots a stupidly hot guy singing and collecting money on an especially freezing winter's day...





	Singing in the Snow (We Found Love in a Frozen Place)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a tumblr post and based off of personal experience
> 
> Comments and kudos always appreciated <3

“I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is jus – hey, turn the radio back on!”

Logan rolled his eyes at the fanciful boy as he backed his car out of their driveway.

“You’re going to be singing all day, Roman, don’t you think you need to save your voice?”

Roman huffed in the backseat, crossing his arms. He couldn’t argue with the logic there, no matter how much he wanted to sing along.

Patton gave his boyfriend puppy dogs eyes from the passenger seat. “Come on, Lo, we have to listen to Christmas music. It’s December 9th, Christmas is practically here!” he reasoned.

“Patton, you know as well as I do that Roman cannot resist singing along to the radio, regardless of what song is playing. He cannot afford to lose his voice before he even gets to work.”

“Consider it a warm up, then. I can’t just start singing cold!” Roman was now leaning forward from the backseat, grabbing Logan’s shoulders and talking loudly into his ear.

“Yeah, a warm up! And we can sing to!” Patton’s face lit up; he knew they’d won the argument.

Logan turned his eyes from the road for a fraction of a second, enough to see the beautiful shining face of his dearest love, and immediately caved.

“Fine,” he said stoically, turning the radio back on.

The victory cheers from the other boys were quickly lost to screeching the lyrics at the top of their lungs. Logan rolled down his driver side window just the tiniest bit – it was freezing outside, but he needed to let some of the noise escape so he wouldn’t have such a pounding headache later.

Patton gently poked Logan’s side. “All I want for Christmas is you, baby!” He sang along, gazing sappily at his boyfriend of two years. Logan couldn’t help but chuckle.

Roman tried his hardest not to wreck his voice while singing on the way to the store. He was going to be singing in front of the local grocery store for at least four hours, so he needed as much energy as possible.

Oddly enough, he felt like his heart wasn’t in the singing as much as it was usually. Watching Patton and Logan playfully teasing each other made his chest ache.

Of course, he was so happy for them. He’d been ecstatic when he’d found out that his older brother Patton had met someone in college whom he adored. After graduating, they’d moved into an apartment together on the other side of town, where Roman had just spent the night as part of a weekend visit.

Seeing the two of them together – on the couch, at the dinner table, and now in the car – was something beautiful to behold, but it left Roman feeling a little empty. A little cold.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to be warm anytime soon, as winter was in full swing in their little town. Standing outside he’d be completely exposed to the elements.

The three pulled up right in front of the store so Roman could quickly hop out. “You sure you guys don’t need anything? I can bring something home on my way back.” He asked, peering in through Patton’s now-open window.

“No, thank you, Roman. We have everything we need,” said Logan.

“For a little fun,” said Patton mischievously, wiggling his eyebrows.

Logan blushed fiercely and cleared his throat. “Patton, dearest …” Logan squeaked, the tips of his ears going bright red.

Roman almost choked and quickly shoved his fingers in his ears. “I don’t need to hear anything else, Patton, thank you!”

Patton, the cheeky bastard, sat giggling at his brother’s reaction. “Alright, Roman, get going. I _snow_ you’ll have a good shift!”

Logan and Roman simultaneously rolled their eyes. They both loved Patton – albeit in very different ways – but thankfully they agreed that Patton’s puns were preposterous (even though they both secretly loved them).

“Goodbye, Roman,” said Logan. “We will return when you are finished. Good luck.”

With that, Patton rolled up his window while waving at Roman. Roman waved back, then turned to head into the store.

He approached the Customer Service desk, collected his bell and donation kettle, and then left the store once again. He set the kettle on its stand and pulled his music binder out of his bag.

Roman tossed his bag behind the stand and then readied himself for some singing, going through some basic warm up exercises as quickly as he could.

This was his first time doing this alone; for the past four years he’d done this, he’d convinced one of his friends to sing with him. Not many Christmas songs were duets, but it was always more fun and the time passed easier with two people. It hadn’t worked out this year though. Valerie was horribly sick and therefore shouldn’t be singing or out in the cold, let alone both at the same time. Thomas had returned to Florida to spend the holidays with his extended family. Terrence had been MIA every time Roman had called to ask if he would join him. Roman had given up after the fourth call. This wasn’t exactly a pleasant job, and even though it paid well, if Terrence didn’t want to do it Roman couldn’t blame him.

Roman opened his binder to the first page: “Joy to the World.” It wasn’t one of his favorites, but it worked well as a warm-up song. It hit the top and bottom of his range, it could be sung fairly slow, and anyone passing by almost certainly knew the words, which would hopefully encourage them to open their wallets.

He tried to pace himself, working through many of the classics, like “The First Noel,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Jingle Bells.” A few people stopped by to toss some coins in, including a pair of adorable children who each put in one dollar, their mother helping them to carefully fold the bills so they fit in the slot. It warmed his heart to see parents teach their children how important it was to support charities, especially during the holiday season.

“Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, you’ll go down in history!” Roman drew out the last note, ending in a flourish of his hand. A small family had gathered at the storefront to listen to him. The little boy started clapping as soon as the song was finished, and Roman couldn’t help but give a little bow. The mother led the boy forward and handed him a few coins to put in the kettle.

“Thank you, kind sir! You must be a knight, selflessly helping those less fortunate than yourself. This town is lucky to have you” Roman said, bending down to look at the little boy.

The child giggled and smiled sweetly before turning tail and running off to cling to his father’s leg. It was devastatingly cute. The family moved on quickly, as it was somehow getting colder outside, leaving Roman to himself.

Or at least he thought he was alone. As soon as the family was out of earshot, Roman heard a snicker.

He glanced up, searching, until his gaze landed on another man, probably near his age. He was wearing a drab store uniform, but Lord was he stunning, with his dark brown bangs hanging flawlessly in front of sharp, caramel-colored eyes. Roman felt his breath hitch in his chest.

“A knight? What the heck was that about?” said the handsome stranger, uncrossing one of his arms to jab in the direction the family had went.

For a few embarrassing moments, Roman could do nothing but gape open-mouthed like a floundering fish. He quickly recovered, hoping the other hadn’t noticed as his brain came back online. “Knights are brave, valiant protectors, defenders of the defenseless! It’s something to aspire to be, wouldn’t you agree?”

The man laughed again, hiding it behind a hand, which was more adorable that he had any right to be in Roman’s mind.

“Sure, whatever, Sir Sing-a-Lot. You enjoy yourself out here,” the man said, turning to leave, already hunching in on himself due to the blistering cold wind.

“No!” Roman almost yelled, barely restraining himself. He coughed, hurriedly trying to recover. “I mean, wait please, I don’t even know your name, fair stranger.”

He couldn’t quite tell, because it looked like the man wore a lot of dark eye shadow as well as concealer directly underneath his eyes, but Roman was almost sure he saw a blush start to creep over his face.

The man huffed a laugh; Roman could tell because he could see the man’s breath. _Great Odin’s eye patch_ , he thought, _it must be below freezing out here!_

“Guess you’ll never know,” said the man with a quick glance at Roman, teasing glint in his eyes, before he quickly turned and fled the scene, giving Roman no chance to say another word.

Roman frowned, crestfallen. Sighing, he pulled his phone out to check the time.

 _What the heckity heck?!_ Roman was shocked to find it had only been thirty minutes since Logan and Patton had dropped him off. He groaned.

It was going to be a long day.

*

"The lights are turned way down low. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

_God, that has to be, what, like, the five millionth time he’s sang that song?!_

Virgil had to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes again as he was currently checking someone out, ringing up their rather interesting shopping cart full of bananas, shampoo, and dog food. He’d honestly seen weirder in his five years as grocery store cashier.

What he’d never seen, though, was such a hot guy working the donation kettle. He’d seen old men, several fellow students from when he’d been in college who were trying to earn an extra buck, and one time a group of four women in a little mini-choir.

Mr. American Idol over there had literally stolen Virgil’s breath when he’d first looked over after hearing someone start up a tune. From his register, Virgil had the perfect view; he could see and hear the guy perfectly, but he couldn’t see Virgil.

A gust of wind brushed the bangs back from his eyes. Virgil shivered, pulling his black and purple hoodie tighter around his thin frame. _Christ, why did Craig station me so close to the door?_ he complained in his mind, outwardly smiling his fake-ass grin to yet another family passing through with everything they’d need to bake enough cookies to feed the entire town. _Bet all those people stocking the shelves are busy today._

Once the family had moved on he let out a big sigh, relaxing his shoulders and closing his eyes for a brief moment. _Dear God, give me the strength to get through just one more –_

“Verge! You’re on break now!” An abrasive voice yelled at him from several stations over. It was his manager, Craig, who lacked any finesse, to say the least. It really made Virgil question exactly how he’d gotten that position, especially since Virgil had worked at the store longer.

 _Oh thank God._ Virgil quickly turned his station light off, walked over to the in-store Starbucks, which was thankfully right next to his line, and slumped down into a chair. He could finally have a moment of peace. Maybe he could secretly listen to the hot singing guy …

“Well, hello there, fair maiden! Might I have the honor of sitting with you this lovely morn?” a loud voice boasted. Virgil tried not to jump too much from surprise, keeping his head down as his heart rate slowed back down to normal.

“If ‘fair’ means pale, then yeah I’m really pale, but I’m hardly a maiden.” Virgil opened his eyes to see the gentleman standing over the table, eagerly waiting for Virgil to respond.

“What would the prince prefer I call him, then?”

If Virgil had been drinking something, he was sure he’d have choked on it or something. Part of him wished the earth would open up and swallow his embarrassing ass so he wouldn’t have to fumble his way through a conversation with Sexiest Man of the Year.

Somehow, he managed to sputter out “It’s Virgil. Virgil Williams.”

Roman’s eyes twinkled. He slowly pulled out the chair in front of him and sat down, drinking in every detail of the gorgeous man before him. “Then may I say it is an honor, dear Virgil, and what a lovely name that is! I am Roman Sanders.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. Anyone who was close to him – which admittedly wasn’t that many people – knew that Virgil didn’t particularly love his name. However, something about the way it rolled off of Roman’s tongue sent a little mini shiver down his spine. Virgil blamed it on the wind.

“Why aren’t you singing, Sanders?” Virgil raised an eyebrow curiously.

Roman leaned back into his chair, waving Virgil off. “I’m on my lunch break! It’s been two hours and I need to rest my voice,” Roman seemed to blush more, but Virgil couldn’t tell because his whole face was so red from the cold. “Besides, I saw you sitting here and thought I would come say hi.”

Virgil lifted an eyebrow at that. _A crazy attractive stranger wants to hang out with me?_ He couldn’t deny he was excited at the prospect, but a strong voice in the back of his head told him not to get his hopes up just yet.

Before Virgil could make a comment, Roman started up again. “So, tell me all about you, dearest Virgil.”

If Virgil was a romantic (heh, punny), he’d say that Roman’s eyes were sparkling and that he was sitting on the edge of his seat, eager to hear even the most mundane details of Virgil’s life.

Virgil sighed, figuring it’d be better to get this over with. The sooner Hottie McSing-A-Long realized what a lame guy he was, the sooner he’d go back to singing and leave Virgil to it.

“I’m a graphic web designer. I have a minor in Business. I love drawing and I mostly use – surprise surprise – really dark colors. I’ve worked here since college as a second job to help pay the bills since my designing is mostly freelance.” Virgil felt like he was just word vomiting, but Roman rather than being bored seemed to be drinking it in, so he charged on.

“I spend most of my free time on Tumblr and occasionally Myspace. I like reading and writing, and my favorite movie is _The Black Cauldron_.”

Roman _actually fucking gasped_ and sat up straighter in his chair. “You like Disney?”

Virgil felt like he wanted to put some defenses up because Roman was so excited it was starting to make him anxious. “I mean, yeah, who doesn’t?” he asked cautiously.

Roman sweetly sighed, huge grin on his face. “I love all Disney movies, ever, even ones that haven’t been made yet! I can sing every single song from every Disney movie.”

Virgil chuckled. “I don’t doubt that, Princey.”

Roman absolutely flushed at the nickname, the tips of his ears going bright red. “Aw, come on, Surely Temple, you can’t tell me that you don’t like Disney!”

“I do, okay, it’s just – ”

“Virgil!” said Craig, jogging up to the side of the table. “I’ve been trying to find you for the last five minutes! Your break’s over! Get back on the line!”

He didn’t look mad, but he didn’t look happy either, so Virgil quickly excused himself and hurried back to his station.

 _Blast it!_ thought Roman, exasperated. He took off his wool beanie and ran a quick hand through his perfectly styled hair. _That’s the second time this adorable man has walked away from me._ Putting his hat back on, he stood up from his table and headed back to his spot.

_Oh, well. Next break, I’ll get him to sit with me again. Then we can talk more._

*

The next few hours passed dreadfully slowly. Roman sang through every song in his binder several times over and he tried to throw in some other random ones he knew well.

As the minutes went by and the evening approached, the store got exponentially busier. More and more people were passing Roman, in and out of the store in their maddening holiday rush to get everything from gifts to food to clothes. A fair number of people stopped to put their spare change in the kettle.

One little girl squealed when she saw Roman singing and started pulling on her mother’s arm, begging her to look up from her phone. She barely paid the little girl any attention, absent-mindedly ruffling through her purse and handing her a dollar without even checking to see how much it was worth.

The girl ran over to Roman, mid-lyric, and wrapped herself around his leg in a death-grip.

“Ooff!” he groaned upon impact, momentarily pausing in “Winter Wonderland.”

He resumed the song as she clung to him, swaying slightly, which made her laugh even as she joined in and sang with him, swaying to the beat.

When the song was finally finished, he gently peeled her off of his leg, guided her in front of him, and bent down to look directly at her adorable face.

“What a lovely voice this little princess has! What is your name, darling?”

The girl giggled, suddenly shy, and looked down at her feet. “Sarah,” she said.

Roman reached out and gently, carefully, ever-so-slightly tilted the girl’s chin up. “Why, Princess Sarah, I feel truly blessed that you sang with me, for your voice is the loveliest in all the land!”

Sarah was positively beaming by this point. Wordlessly, she handed him the dollar bill.

“Here, sweetheart, let’s fold that and put it in the kettle, shall we?” Roman helped her fold the bill, lift it to the kettle, and slip it inside.

“Thank you, dearest Sarah! Your kindness will not be forgotten!”

Speaking of kindnesses…

As Sarah ran off, waving goodbye to Roman and following her poor, distracted mother into the store, Virgil slid up next to Roman and quietly thrust a steaming hot cup into Roman’s hands.

“That was the cutest shit I’ve ever seen.”

Roman pretended to gasp. “Virgil, not in front of the kids!”

Virgil felt a laugh building in his chest, and for once in his life, he didn’t hold back. He let it bubble softly out of him.

 _Damn, even his laugh is cute!_ thought Roman. _I have got to get this guy’s number._

“So, Princey, you didn’t get to say much about yourself earlier.” Virgil said before taking a sip of his hot black coffee.

Roman took a huge gulp of his drink: hot chocolate. _Well, I guess I don’t really need any caffeine right now, and anyway it was so thoughtful of him to get this for me._

“I’m an actor. I perform with many of the local companies and sometimes I even work in the public schools to help the kids experience the arts. I have a Bachelor’s degree in performance, but I’ve gone back recently to get an Associate’s in business. My brother’s boyfriend Logan sort of pushed me into it; he said business is ‘more logical’ than, and I quote, ‘professional make-believe.’ It’s actually not been that bad, and I find I kind of like my classes.”

Virgil was laughing again. He had thrown his head back completely, was laughing wholeheartedly, and it made Roman’s chest warmer than the scalding cocoa in his hands (which was slowly and blessedly returning the feeling to his frozen hands).

“I mean, he’s not wrong.”

“How dare you speak about my profession in such a manner! Acting is a tortuous, difficult, demanding job which requires finesse, and determination, and bravery!”

“Sure it does, Princey. And being a web designer requires me to literally grow a third hand and vanquish a computer monster.”

Now they were both laughing, the kind that left their stomachs aching and pulled tears to their eyes (although it could have been the biting wind, which was picking up). They got a few weird looks from passerby, but both were beyond the point of caring. For all they knew, they were in their own little world right then.

As their laughter died off, Virgil nudged Roman’s binder back open, flipping it to the only Disney song Roman had: “Let It Go” from _Frozen_.

Virgil looked at the music in slight confusion.

Roman was curious, and he also wanted to keep the teasing up without pushing the boundaries. “What is it, my chemically imbalanced romance?” Hoping the pun referencing an edgy punk band would get a good reaction.

Virgil fucking _snorted_.

Roman immediately laughed and poorly tried to hide it behind one of his hands. Virgil glared at him, but there was no malice in his soft brown eyes.

“You haven’t sung this yet today. I thought you said you’d die defending the honor of the Disney Corporation, or was I hearing things?”

Roman couldn’t help but smirk a little, poking the dark man’s side. “So you have been listening?”

Virgil rolled his eyes, only mildly exasperated. “You’re parked all of twenty feet from my station, and you’re louder than a screamo band, so yeah, I can hear you pretty well, dork.”

It seemed Virgil was running out of nicknames. _Really, ‘dork’ is the best you can do?_

“Well, Panic! at the Everywhere, I have not sung this song yet because it is a tradition of mine to sing this song last, at the very end of my shift. Unfortunately, that isn’t for another good hour or so.”

Virgil couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face, but it was immediately replaced by a grimace as a particularly strong gust of wind burst through the store’s doors. That was when he finally noticed he was shivering. He took a sip of his coffee; it wasn’t even lukewarm now, it was just as cold as the air outside the store.

Roman noticed Virgil shivering and cautiously slung his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders, watching for any sign that he was crossing a line.

Virgil, face tomato red from cold and sheer embarrassment, allowed it, because his tattered old hoodie was nowhere near warm enough, and despite standing outside for several hours, Roman inexplicably felt hot as a furnace.

Roman gripped Virgil tightly to his chest. “Why, darling, you’re freeing! You need to go inside immediately.”

Roman’s heart was beating erratically, and he desperately hoped Virgil couldn’t hear its pounding as he rested his head against Roman’s broad chest.

Virgil hummed contentedly and made no move to leave.

“Virgil, dearest, why are you still outside? What on earth were you thinking standing outside the store for … oh my god, forty minutes!” Roman added, shocked, as he managed to pull his phone out of his pocket to check the time.

Virgil mumbled something unintelligible.

“Speak up, baby.”

Virgil’s heart was in his throat, and he shivered for an entirely different reason.

“I wanted to spend time with you.” He whispered, barely loud enough for Roman to hear.

But Roman did, he felt the vibrations in his chest, and his heart absolutely soared. He nudged Virgil away from him so he could meet the other’s eyes.

Virgil’s panic spiked, worried that he’d made a mistake. _Fuck, I shouldn’t have said anything! This was all going so well, now he’ll probably tell me he hates me and I’m a piece of trash and he never wants to see me –_

Roman cleared his throat. He could see gears turning in Virgil’s head, and at the noise his eyes snapped frantically back to Roman’s.

“Virgil Williams,” he began, gently cradling Virgil’s cheek with his left hand. “It would be my honor to spend your precious time with you. However, I think we’d both be infinitely more comfortable if we weren’t freezing. Therefore, I propose, after both our shifts are over, we go to a coffee shop, order the warmest drinks they have, sit by the fire, and get to know each other. How does that sound?”

Virgil couldn’t help the massive dopey grin that spread across his face, or the little laugh that escaped, entirely unbidden.

“Geez, Princey, I thought you’d never ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to add a disclaimer:
> 
> The prompt did mention The Salvation Army, and my experience comes from when I used to work the donation kettles for said organization. However, I omitted the name from the fic, just as I have severed all personal ties to the organization. I was never directly employed by them, I was employed by a middleman hiring company, and I do not support The Salvation Army nor their practices. Last year I learned that they were being discriminatory towards members of the LGBT+ community, and I could never support that.
> 
> Just imagine Roman is working for his local charity, or one of his theatre groups <333


End file.
